Kang Lan looked at Bai Zemin in a blank stare but he also didn't explain too much nor did he give enough time for anyone to ask questions as in its place he took off the bag he had made out of Second Order leather and spilled the contents on the ground.
Under the not so surprised gaze of everyone, hundreds of small shiny rocks with different colors fell one by one to the ground creating small tinkling sounds as they reached their destination.
"Kang Lan, there are about 20 Second Order Soul Stones here. The rest are all First Order Soul Stones. I want you to evolve your First Order Recovery skill to the maximum possible now." Bai Zemin ordered as he pointed to the Soul Stones that he had gone to great effort to save and which he had chosen as carefully as his time in the Oblon World allowed.
"This…" Kang Lan was very surprised when she heard that there were approximately twenty Second Order Soul Stones in that small, brightly colored mountain.
In the area, there was no lack of soul evolvers mixed among the normal soldiers so with their sharpened senses Bai Zemin's words did not escape their ears. These soul evolvers gasped and the soldiers next to them could not contain their curiosity so they asked what was going on.
As the words of Bai Zemin spread through the war zone, silence reigned for a couple of seconds before more and more gasps were added one after another.
Currently, a single Second Order existence was basically an overlord capable of destroying a large camp and probably only camps with advanced modern weaponry like the Baiquan Camp that had war tanks and several IFVs would be able to defend themselves; the remaining human establishments would definitely be wiped out in blood in a matter of hours or perhaps minutes depending on the extent of resistance the humans could put up.
However, just now, Bai Zemin had just said that in that pile of Soul Stones there were no less than twenty Second Order Soul Stones….
What did twenty Second Order Soul Stones mean? It meant that unless twenty defeated enemies whose power scale was within the Second Order had with 100% probability Soul Stones, then Bai Zemin must have killed at least several tens of Second Order beings while he and Shangguan Bing Xue were on the other side of the portal!
Fu Xuefeng, Zhong De, Chen He, Nangong Yi, Nangong Lingxin, and the others looked toward the portal in shock. Even Evangeline's ever calm expression threatened to crumble once she understood the hidden meaning behind Bai Zemin's seemingly simple words.
Although all the soul evolvers present had realized that the enemy this time was indeed powerful as they had overwhelmingly high numbers and they had even sensed the remaining Soul Power floating in the air as an indication that the powerhouses were not lacking for the other side, none of the members of the allied army expected that in just a matter of 5 or 6 hours Bai Zemin had fought and slaughtered hundreds of First Order beings and at very least twenty Second Order ones!
And that's not even taking into account the huge sum of treasures Shangguan Bing Xue brought with her when she crossed the portal along with the huge ice hands she had created in the Oblon World!
Chen He looked at the huge amount of Soul Stones on the ground and gulped as a thought flashed through him…. Wouldn't Bai Zemin be able to bring even more high-ranked Soul Stones if not for the limits of that leather pouch?…. No, more than that….
Chen He looked around and couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air when he realized that the terrifying sight around him suddenly seemed to have turned into a divine treasure!
In the war zone where Bai Zemin had slaughtered the enemies were hundreds of thousands of rotting corpses! Hundreds of thousands of corpses among which there was no shortage of First Order!
In short, the Transcendent faction would soon obtain at least several tens of thousands of Unclassified Soul Stones and probably several tens or even a little over a hundred First Order Soul Stones!
All the soul evolvers were excited and couldn't help but shout Bai Zemin's name out loud as they realized that all of them would soon be able to evolve all of their skills to new heights thanks to the sudden increase in Unclassified Soul Stones!
"Bai Zemin!"
"Bai Zemin!"
"Bai Zemin!"
…
Bai Zemin was dumbfounded and looked at the large army that seemed to have received some kind of magic drug with confusion. Then, he looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and said uncomprehendingly, "Bing Xue, what is going on here?"
Shangguan Bing Xue shrugged her shoulders and calmly replied, "They are probably excited about the large number of Soul Stones we will obtain once the proper extraction is done."
By "proper extraction" Shangguan Bing Xue naturally meant drilling the heads of the corpses in need of such a process to obtain the corresponding Soul Stone.
"Isn't it just a few Unclassified Soul Stones and a few First Order Soul Stones?" Bai Zemin said in confusion. Then, he said indifferently, "I even obtained a Third Order and a Fourth Order before."
"…"
The battlefield suddenly became silent and those who were previously cheering happily froze with their arms in the mid-air as they stared straight ahead with strange expressions.
The face of Shangguan Bing Xue turned pale and ignoring the shock everyone felt in their hearts she walked up to Bai Zemin slowly.
Bai Zemin frowned and subconsciously took a step back when she came too close of him. After all, Shangguan Bing Xue was still wrapped by his cloak as her armor had also been destroyed during the battle against the Second Order giant eagle.
Shangguan Bing Xue did not care at all about what others might think. She looked at Bai Zemin's severed arm and said with a deathly pale face:
"You… You fought against the emperor?"
"… Actually, I managed to give him a good blow but unfortunately I didn't manage to kill him." Bai Zemin nodded with a touch of remorse. "My strength really is far from the Fourth Order after all. Even my Crimson Blood Judgment boosted by the power of Little Blue, the momentum of Gravity Manipulation, the falling force of over 10,000 kilometers high, and even the support of my Mystic Earring was powerless to kill that asura emperor."
Bai Zemin knew that he was a mere First Order existence and the fact that he managed to survive after a Fourth Order enemy appeared in his path was already a miracle in itself. However, he was a greedy man after all so it was hard for him to accept failure no matter how justified it was.
The eyes of Shangguan Bing Xue trembled. She ignored the second part of what Bai Zemin said and instead focused on what she managed to realize from his initial words.
"You… You didn't kill the emperor? That… Then… That Fourth Order Soul Stone you say…"
"Ah, that? Ugh…" Bai Zemin frowned as he felt his entire body begin to itch tremendously, which simply worsened the pain he felt from his wounds; this itching was precisely his Health stat beginning to speed up the healing process.
He gasped in pain as he explained in a low voice: "When you crossed the portal, I exchanged a few words with the asura emperor and managed to wound him thanks to the fact that he was limited by my magic attack. However, that man really is the emperor of a race since in his possession is a robe that mitigated a great deal of the damage from my Void Fist…. In the end, just before I retreated, I self-destructed my own attack so that the whole world was thrown into chaos."
"But little did I expect that a few seconds after I crossed the portal to return to Earth, a Fourth Order ghost emperor would appear out of nowhere." Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and shook his head as he said with a lingering bitterness, "I swear that was the worst beating I ever got in my life…. That ghost named Jack was capable of launching attacks directly to the soul so in a surprise attack he almost killed me if it wasn't for me to react in time…. Even so, here's the consequence."
Bai Zemin reached out his blood arm and grabbed his severed arm. He looked at it in pain and said in between sighs, "See. A fraction of a second later and my head would have gone…. The passage back to Earth was starting to collapse, I was badly wounded after fighting so many deadly battles, the enemy was overwhelmingly stronger and as icing on the cake I barely had any Mana left."
Bai Zemin pointed to the two bloody holes in his torso as he slowly said, "These two were gifts from that Fourth Order ghost. Two fists, two holes. In the end, it wasn't possible for me to win, and retreating back to Earth wasn't a viable option either…. So, I decided that since that's the way things were, then I might as well take the culprit with me."
Then, Bai Zemin looked at the golden spear on the ground and said in confusion, "But just then, that spear came out of nowhere and saved me…. Even though both Jack and I were pierced from side to side, strangely enough, I came out unharmed while he disappeared without a trace; I didn't even feel an ounce of new records going into me."
The more he thought about it, the stranger Bai Zemin felt it all was.
Where the hell had that golden spear come from? Who had thrown it? An attack powerful enough to completely annihilate the existence of a Fourth Order powerhouse but controlled enough not to hurt him at all… Bai Zemin could only think on the seemingly all-powerful Higher Existences.
Was it Lilith? Bai Zemin frowned harder and harder.
Although he had never seen Lilith attack, the feeling he felt from the previous attack was something Bai Zemin could not describe but it definitely did not seem to be mana. It seemed like some kind of different energy, more powerful but at the same time strange; Bai Zemin didn't know why but he could feel it very clearly. Therefore, he did not believe that Lilith was responsible even though she was the only Higher Existence he knew who had reason to help him in such a precarious situation as the one he was in at that time.
Suddenly, Bai Zemin felt that someone was looking at him in a way that very few had ever used to look at him. Curious, he took his eyes off the spear and followed that strange feeling, but what he saw made him freeze.
The beautiful blue eyes of Shangguan Bing Xue glistened as tears were barely contained by her long lower lashes. She looked at him with sadness that seemed to come from deep within her heart, the level of sadness and reluctance she conveyed from her eyes shocked Bai Zemin greatly as he did not expect that a living being let alone a human could ever show such a pure emotion like this.
"H- Hey… Is something wrong?" He spoke in a low voice as if he was afraid of scaring her and being the cause for those crystalline tears to fall.
However, Shangguan Bing Xue did not respond. She simply shook her head gently causing her hair to sway delicately on the wind before slowly closing her eyes and raising her head to look up to the sky to prevent her tears from falling.
Shangguan Bing Xue slowly opened her eyes and looked at the sunset that signaled the impending nightfall; a sunset that had become even more red than usual due to the blood floating in the air.
Why had Bai Zemin been unable to return to Earth and had he had no choice but to give himself up to death? Why had he decided to die in that space passage and take that Fourth Order enemy with him? Even without him explaining it and even without him wanting to say it, Shangguan Bing Xue was a woman attentive and smart enough to understand his motives.
If Bai Zemin fled to Earth, the Fourth Order ghost would probably follow him and not only would he end up dying but everyone on Earth would end up being slaughtered. So, what he had done was no different than sacrificing himself for the sake of everyone here.
Sure, Bai Zemin might have his own reasons. But that did not change the reality of the facts; he had saved everyone and had been willing to give up his life for it.
The very thought of it made Shangguan Bing Xue feel guilty for leaving him behind but mostly relieved that he had returned alive. However, as she looked at his current condition, she could not help but feel that perhaps her life would not be enough to thank him for all that he had silently done for all of them.
At the end of the day, Bai Zemin might not be aware that he continued to sacrifice himself for the good of all. However, most of the time he received hate or envious looks and even those he chose to trust in betrayed him.
She slowly lowered her head and looked him seriously in the eyes before looking at everyone present with cold eyes. Then, under everyone's astonished stare, she slowly knelt down on one knee and said firmly, "From today, I, Shangguan Bing Xue, pledge my loyalty to you, Bai Zemin. I know what kind of person you are and I know what your heart is like so I am not afraid of my next words….. Your enemies will always be my enemies and I will personally take it upon myself to reclaim the lives of those ungrateful ones who spat upon the kindness you have shown them."
Bai Zemin was stunned at Shangguan Bing Xue's sudden act, however, among all the shocked there was probably no one as surprised as Chen He.
The young and talented archer looked at his crush with wide eyes in shock. Even his pupils trembled in disbelief because he knew Shangguan Bing Xue's character well enough to understand that her words were not just for show.
* * * * * * *
Chapter 500! Where are my super gifts! >.<
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
